Product availability issues affecting consumer purchasing patterns

The fourth wave of the weekly COVID-19 consumer behavior study by AMC Global (an international custom market research firm specializing in launch strategies and brand tracking) and OpinionRoute (a leader in insights process management) was released today. This week’s research focused on product and brand availability, and the impact on purchasing behavior including private label’s role in choice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results show that product availability issues are affecting consumer purchasing patterns, resulting in both lost sales as well as brand and product replacements.

Check out the full graphic of the data.

Key findings for the week of April 20: 

• 98% of consumers have found paper products unavailable, causing 21% of those shoppers to substitute brand, 38% to look for them at another store, and 32% to not purchase at all. 

• When disinfecting cleaners were unavailable (which has happened to 96% of consumers), most leave the store without the purchase (35% go elsewhere, and 37% forgo purchasing).

• Following these top two highly unavailable categories, is meat (84% of consumers finding unavailable), bread (83%), bottled water (79%) and dairy (77%).

• The study also showed 23% of consumers are purchasing more private label, with 80% of those consumers stating the change was based on product availability.

A complete representation of the data can be found here. New results and findings will be released on April 30. The study findings are designed to help clients and industry leaders navigate quickly changing consumer behavior during the crisis. Contact Michelle Andre at michelle@andremktg.com for more information.